1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a local information access system and method that stores and retrieves information located at or close to a location.
2. Description of Prior Art
The Internet is a revolutionary technology to access information. Through the Internet, users can access information from around the world with the click of a mouse button. They can access information related to a company on the other side of earth at their home. The Internet is a powerful and convenient media to provide or receive information. Companies are promoting their product information and services or making direct sales online. To access information, the user either needs to know the web site address of the information or use a search engine to search for the information. The user needs to provide the search engine some key words that relate to the information. However, the amount of information on the Internet is explosively growing. The user could receive thousand of related pieces of information from a search engine. In many cases, the user only needs the local information instead of global information.
The prior art used to deal with the explosive global information problem categorizes the information. Most of the search engines on the Internet categorize the information by the information characteristics. For example, Yahoo Inc. categorizes their database into automobile, travel, computer, political, stock quotes, etc. The user could choose the category to do the search. This approach might reduce the quantity of information returned from a search. However, it is still too much information and contains the global information within that category.
Some of the companies on the Internet further categorize their information by the geographic areas, for example countries or cities. With the geographic area category, the user could search the information only in a predefined area, which usually is a government district, for example ZIP code area, city, county, state, and country, etc. One example is the Sidewalk WEB site of Microsoft Corp. The WEB site provides a utility to locate the stores by Boolean search criteria and an area, which could be a ZIP code, a city, a county, a state, and a country. After it finds the stores, it returns a map and shows the store location by making a mark on the returned map. It has the disadvantage that the searching area is predefined, meaning that the user could not choose as they wish, for example to cross city limits or to narrow down to a shopping mall. Another disadvantage is the information returned is limited to store location without any merchandise information to help shopping. There are no driving directions to the shopping location except the map. Also, the information may not be up to date, for example, the store may have moved.
Another prior art system is found in most of the Global Position System (GPS) applications. The current Global Position System is more popular in Europe and Japan than in the United States. The Global Position System receiver receives the signals from several satellites and then determines its current position. The Global Position System receiver usually has a built-in small computer. The computer has a display that could display a simplified map and show the current position on the map. The map is either pre-stored in the computer or could be downloaded from a remote site through a wireless connection. The program runs on the computer and could use the current position coordinates to search a built-in database for the closest gas stations, hospitals, or restaurants. The built-in database is stored in a memory device of the computer, for example, flash memory or a CD-ROM. It has the disadvantages that information might be out dated and the searching area is not selectable.
A convenient and flexible local information searching system is provided, which quickly builds and retrieves the information corresponding to a location. The preferred embodiment of this invention utilizes the Internet as media to distribute and build up the information and a database with position coordinates of a Global Position System to search the information.
There are two users of this system: one is the information provider and the other is the information consumer. The information provider provides information stored in the database of this invention. The information consumer retrieves information from the database of this invention and utilizes the information for a variety purposes. The typical user of this invention is equipped with a computer with a modem. The user computer dials up an Internet Service Provider (ISP) through the modem and phone connection to access to the Internet.
The server computer system of this invention is provided to serve two types of users. The preferred server computer system in the embodiment is equipped with a computer, a networking device to an Internet Service Provider with a high-speed data communication link. The Internet Service Provider then connects to the user""s computer system through another Internet Service Provider that serves the user computer system. The server computer system also couples to a database for storing and querying information in the database.
In the preferred embodiment, the information provider uses a computer to communicate with the server computer via the Internet and update their information in the database as frequently as they need. Therefore, the information in the database would be up to date because the information is updated upon the information provider""s demand. The provided information is comprised of the identifier of the information provider, the location related to the information, and other information descriptions. The location could be an address or the position coordinates of the Global Position System. If the location is an address, the server computer system converts the address into the related position coordinates of the Global Position System. The server computer system, then, stores the information and the position coordinates into the database.
An information consumer uses the computer to communicate with the server computer system via the Internet and for querying the database. The query is for searching the information that is located in a user-specified area and matching searching criteria. The searching area in the query is derived from a position and searching area constraint input by the user. In the preferred embodiment, Global Position System (GPS) coordinates are used to describe the position. The user chooses the searching area constraint and a position to decide the area in which he or she would like to do the information search. If the user does not specify a searching area constraint, the preferred embodiment of this invention then takes a default searching area constraint. The position could be stored in a memory of the user""s computer and the user uses the stored position to query the system of this invention. If a GPS receiver is connected with the user""s computer, the computer could periodically update the position by receiving information from the GPS receiver. The searching area could be close to the user""s current position in real time. It is especially convenient if the user is driving a vehicle. The user could certainly manually enter a GPS position in the query if the user does not have a GPS receiver or wants to query information outside of the user""s current position.
The local computer could be a hand held computer or some portable computer. The user could install a miniature computer with a GPS receiver on a car and access the Internet through a cellular phone or some wireless connection to the system of this invention. The information retrieved by the present invention would be quickly changed corresponding to the new position identified by GPS receiver.
The information in the database of the preferred embodiment of this invention contains the GPS position coordinate information. With this information, the system of this invention could do an accurate search and also return search results with the information position coordinates for use with navigation and routing applications. In the preferred embodiment, the search results include a map that is marked with the found information according to their position on the map. The returned information position coordinates will be used for determining the best route and real time navigation when incorporated with a GPS receiver.
Accordingly, besides the objects and advantages of the /system and method for accessing local information described above, several objects and advantages of the present invention are:
(a) to provide an efficient system and method for a local information provider to distribute their information to a local information consumer,
(b) to provide a convenient and fast local information searching system and method which could find information in a user specified searching area, and match user specified criteria,
(c) to provide a fast and accurate local information search by utilizing the Global Position System coordinates,
(d) to provide a flexible, local information searching system and method with highly adjustable searching area, for example, crossing city boundaries or even narrowed down to a shopping mall area,
(e) to provide a system and method to couple an information search with Global Position System Navigation to further help an information consumer drive to the found information position, and
(f) to provide a system and method to couple an information search with a best route to a position of found information, and best route could takes both traffic and distance in to consideration.